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H. L. GREEN, Publisher. 

2 13 E. Injiana St., Chicago. 



PRICE 6 CENTS. 
10 Copies for 30 Cents. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



HIS RELIGION 



BY ROBERT N. REEVES. 



SOME years ago Colonel Robert G. IngersoU engaged in a contro- 
versy with General Charles H. T. Collis over the religion of Abra- 
ham Lincoln. Colonel IngersoU contributed but two short letters to the 
discussion, as it soon became apparent to him that General Collis knew 

little or nothing of the real life of Lin- 
coln. These two letters, however, to- 
gether with the letters of General Col- 
lis, have recently been published by 
tlie latter in a little pamphlet entitled, 
"The Religion of Abraham Lincoln," 
in which is included also a letter from 
General Daniel E. Sickles and one 
from the Hon. Oliver S. Munsell, both 
of whom, like General Collis, attempt 
to prove that Abraham Lincoln was a 
Christian. 

I have read carefully these letters of 
General Collis and his friends, and, 
beyond finding that Lincoln had great 
faith in God, that he prayed occasion- 
ally, and attended church now and 
then while in Washington, I am un- 
able to discover any positive evidence 
that Lincoln was a Christian. On the 
contrary, from the weakness of the evidence presented, and upon which 
they base their belief that Lincoln was a Christian, I am convinced that 
General CoUis, General Sickles, and Mr. Munsell are in much the same 
position as those orthodox Christians who, as soon as a man has attained 
some degree of fame in the political, scientific or literary world, insist on 
making him a Christian in spite of all evidence to the contrary. 




ABR.\H.\M LINCOLN. 



(-^ 

We are told by the most authoritative biographers of Lincohi that 
in boyhood he showed no signs of that early piety such as many Sunday 
school biographers, like Arnold and Holland, have since ascribed to him. 
As a boy he was much like other boys, save possibly that he was a little 
more studious and liked to lie about under shady trees and read such 
books as Aesop's Fables, Robinson Crusoe, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, 
and the Bible. There is no indication, however, that the two latter books 
impressed his youthful mind sufficiently to make a Christian convert of 
him. He took the stories that he read in them only for what they were 
worth. His step-mother — herself a devout Christian — once said that she 
could remember no circumstance in Lincoln's boyhood that would sup- 
port the hopes she had of making him a Christian. 

As Lincoln grew to manhood he became more and more pronounced 
in his religious opinions and often showed his contempt for the creeds 
and dogmas of the Christians. In 1834, when first elected to the State 
Legislature, Lincoln was living at New Salem, Illinois, in a community 
noted for its Freethinkers. These Freethinkers were looked upon by the 
orthodox Christians of the town as persons whose society should be 
shunned by all who wished to succeed here and hereafter ; yet Lincoln 
associated intimately with the Freethinkers of New Salem, imbued their 
ideas, and read with eagerness such books as Volney's Ruins, Paine's 
Age of Reason, and certain of Voltaire's works which they loaned to him. 

If there is anything that will broaden a man's mind it is to read the 
works of great poets. Lincoln read Shakspeare. He read Byron and 
Burns ; and it is interesting to note, too, that the most blasphemous poem 
ever written by any of these poets — Burns' ''Holy Willie's Prayer" — Lin- 
coln committed entirely to memory. Lincoln's love of poetry was re- 
sponsible in a measure for his poor success in business. In 1832, prior to 
his election to the Legislature, Lincoln was keeping a grocery store at 
New Salem with one William F. Berry. In the running of the store both 
Lincoln and Berry displayed little business capacity. For, while Berry, a 
good-natured but reckless sort of a fellow, squandered the profits of the 
business in riotous living, Lincoln, who loved books as fondly as his part- 
ner loved licjuor, would stretch himself out on a counter, or under a shade 
tree, and read Shakspeare or Burns. 

It is natural that such books, and the people with whom he asso- 
ciated, should have considerable influence on Lincoln. He began to 
take an earnest part not only in the political but religious discussions 
that animated the little circles which gathered evenings at the town tavern 



and in the village stores of New Salem. But Lincoln, whose mind was 
always full of any subject he took hold of, wished to put his thoughts on 
religion in a more logical and permanent form than mere oral discussion. 
In 1834, at the age of 25, he prepared a lengthy essay, which he always 
afterward referred to rather ])roudly as his "little i)ook." In this essay 
Lincoln reached conclusions similar to Volney and Paine ; and demon- 
strated, to his own satisfaction at least, that the Bible was not God's 
revelation, and that Jesus Christ was not the son of God. This essay 
Lincoln intended to have published, but his employer, a Mr. Samuel 
Hill, though a skeptic himself, questioned the propriety of so young and 
promising a man maintaining such hostile and unpopular ideas. Hill took 
the manuscript that Lincoln had so carefully prepared, destroyed it and 
cautioned Lincoln that if he wished to succeed politically he would have 
to abandon his attacks on the Christians. 

This well-meant act of his older and somewhat more sagacious friend 
in no way diminished Lincoln's skeptical views. Lincoln was never 
known to have afterwards denied or regretted the writing of his anti- 
Christian essay. After he was elected to the Illinois Legislature and had 
removed to the capitol at Springfield, he continued to attract attention 
by the liberality of his religious views ; and often in conversation with his 
friends he referred to his "little book," and seemed to take delight in 
stating its origin, its object, and its arguments. 

Unlike Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefiferson, Lincoln left little 
behind to indicate his religious opinions. We must, therefore, rely almost 
entirely upon the testimony of his neighbors and friends — those amongst 
whom he lived. Franklin lived to be eighty-four years old, and JelTcrson 
eighty-three. The writings of each fill ten large volumes, and are made 
up of much that proves conclusively their unbelief in orthodox Christian- 
ity. Lincoln lived to be but fifty-six years old. The first half of his life 
were years of poverty and toil — years in which he struggled to secure 
the mere rudiments of an education. These he had scarcely obtained 
when he was hurled into that whirlpool of American political life, known 
as the anti-slavery agitation. Lincoln had little time, therefore, to de- 
vote to art, science, literature or religion — subjects that give life and 
flavor to the writings of Franklin and Jefferson. Lincoln's writings — and 
they comprise but two short volumes — are made up for the most part of 
proclamations and war messages. Still here and there among the mass 
of political literature we find something that shows the trend of Lin- 
coln's mind in matters of religion. Thus, in one of his earliest addresses, 



an address delivered before the Young- Men's Lyceum of Springfield, 
Illinois, January q.J, 1837, Lincoln, speaking on the "Perpetuation of 
Our Political Institutions," refers to Napoleon, Caesar and Alexander, 
to the greatness of our laws, our Constitution and Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, but there is no reference to Christ, to the church or to Chris- 
tianity, things which most orators, speaking on similar subjects, gener- 
ally work into their speeches in order to tickle the fancies of Christian 
friends. Only once in this address did Lincoln refer to the Bible, and 
that in a rather doubtful way, when he said he hoped that the history of 
the American Revolution would be read at least as long as the Bible. 

Again, in an address to the Washingtonian Temperance Society, de- 
livered in the Presbyterian Church of Springfield in 1842, Lincoln spoke 
slightingly of the sincerity of those Christians who, to use Lincoln's own 
words, "professed that Omnipotence condescended to take on himself 
the form of sinful man, and as such die an ignominious death for their 
sakes." These and other remarks caused considerable dissatisfaction 
amongst his audience on this occasion. William H. Herndon, one of 
Lincoln's biographers, says that he stood at the door of the church as the 
people passed out and heard many openly express their displeasure. "It 
is a shame," he heard one man say, "that he (Lincoln) should be per- 
mitted to abuse us so in the house of the Lord." The sentiments ex- 
pressed by Lincoln in this address were the sentiments of a skeptic, and 
the Christians did not forget it. Besides, there were other things to 
arouse the antagonism of the Christians. Lincoln, while in Springfield, 
rarely attended church. He was in the habit on Sundays of taking his 
two boys, William and Thomas, or "Tad," down to his office, where he 
remained all day reading, writing and playing with the children, while his 
wife, who was considerable of a churchgoer, went to church unattended. 
This unchristianly coivluct of Lincoln's was remembered by the Chris- 
tians of Springfield, and when he became a candidate for Congress 
against the noted Methodist preacher, Peter Cartwright, and later, in 
1846, a candidate for the Whig nomination for Congress against Gen- 
cviil John J. Hardin, one of the arguments used against Lincoln was that 
J>f wasa deist and an infidel. In 1843, too, when Lincoln also tried to obtain 
the Congressional nomination, he was forced to withdraw in favor of his 
opponent, Edward D. Baker, on account of the opposition of the Chris- 
tians. In a letter to his friend, Martin M. Morris, dated March 26, 1843, 
Lincoln describes the situation as follows : "There was the strangest 
combination of church influence against me. Baker is a Campbellite; 



and, therefore, as I suppose, with few exceptions, got all that church. 
My wife has some relations in the Presbyterian churches, and some with 
the Episcopal churches; and, therefore, wherever it would tell, I was set 
down as either the one or the other, while it was everywhere contended 
that no Christian ought to go for me, because I belonged to no church, 
was suspected of being a deist, and had talked about lighting a duel." 

We know that Lincoln had the reputation of being a deist, because, 
while a resident of Springfield, attempts were made time and time again, 
by the preachers and exhorters of that city, to convert him to the Chris- 
tian faith. One enthusiastic preacher, the Rev. Mr. Smith, pastor of the 
First Presbyterian Church of Springfield, was particularly anxious to 
make a Christian of Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln always listened respectfully 
to Smith's arguments, but never seemed to be especially impressed by 
them. Thereupon Smith wrote a pious pamphlet, made to fit Lincoln's 
case, which he presented to Lincoln and asked him to read it. Lincoln 
took the pamphlet to his office, threw it in an obscure corner of his desk, 
and gave no further attention to it. Afterwards Smith pressed him for 
his opinion of the "work," and Lincoln, never having read it, replied with 
his characteristic humor, "Mr. Smith, your argument is unanswerable." 

As Lincoln grew older, and became more deeply involved in the po- 
litical life of the nation, he became less enthusiastic in his unbelief. To 
strangers he seldom talked about religious matters, but to close friends 
he was as frank and open-hearted in stating his religious opinions as 
before. It is true that in many of Lincoln's later speeches we find that 
he made use of such expressions as "Divine Providence," "Justice of 
God," etc., etc. But these indefinite expressions are in no way incon- 
sistent with the character of a deist. They are, however, the very ex- 
pressions that have been seized upon by Christians and distorted out of 
all their real significance in an effort to save Lincoln from that fate, 
which, according to Christian creeds, his deistic opinions would have 
consigned him. 

We know, howfever, that Lincoln did not believe in a personal God ; 
that he did not believe in the God of the Bible — but a God such as Vol- 
taire, Paine and Theodore Parker believed in. In 1854 his law partner. 
William H. Herndon, read Lincoln a speech which he intended to de- 
liver, and asked Lincoln to criticise it. In this speech, as written, there 
occurred the word God, and to this word Lincoln objected, advising 
Herndon to erase it, as it indicated a personal God, whereas Lincoln 
insisted ihat no such personality existed. 



So, too, the Proclamation of Emancipation — the greatest document 
of his Presidency — as originally drawn by Lincoln contained no mention 
of God ; but when this omission was pointed out to him by the members 
of his Cabinet, Lincoln made no comment, but carelessly incorporated 
into the text of the proclamation the religious paragraph offered him, as 
though it was a matter of little consequence one way or the other. 

Again, when a convention of clergymen passed a resolution re- 
questing President Lincoln to recommend to Congress an amendment to 
the Federal Constitution, recognizing the existence of God, Lincoln pre- 
pared a first draft of a message to that effect. "Biit," says Mr. Defrees, 
then superintendent of public printing, ''When I assisted him in reading 
the proof, he struck it out, remarking that he had not made up his mind 
as to its propriety." 

In 1863-64, when the war was on, and the Union forces were march- 
ing through the South, occupying chapels, churches and cathedrals, 
whenever and wherever they found it necessary to use them as barracks, 
a cry of horror went up from the clergy of the South, and even the clergy 
of the North, that Lincoln was sacrilegious in thus permitting the holy 
temples of God to be used for such unholy purposes. To the protests 
of the clergy Lincoln answered : "Let the churches take care of them- 
selves. It will not do for the United States to appoint trustees, supervi- 
sors and agents for the churches." 

As I said before, there is little in the works of Lincoln beyond what 
I have quoted, to prove that he was or was not a Christian. We must, 
therefore, in arriving at Lincoln's religious belief, rely almost entirely 
upon secondary evidence — upon the evidence of those who knew Lincoln 
and associated with him. In law, when primary evidence cannot be pro- 
duced, secondary evidence becomes on that account the best of evidence. 
The value of secondary evidence, however, depends greatly upon the 
characters of those who give it. I shall give here the testimony of some 
of those who were lifelong friends of Lincoln, and who were well ac- 
quainted with his religious opinions. The characters of the persons whom 
I shall quote are above reproach. Some of them are persons who have 
attained national prominence and are known, therefore, to most of the 
readers of these pages. I shall not give all the evidence of this kind that 
can be brought forward, but I shall give enough, I think, to convince even 
the most orthodox that Lincoln was not a Christian. Those who desire 
more evidence of the kind I refer to Colonel Ward H. Lamon's excellent 
biography of Lincoln, which I have read, and to John E. Remsburg's 



book, "Abraham Lincoln, Was He a Christian ?"' w hich I have not read, 
but which Colonel Ingersoll especially recommended to all persons in- 
terested in the religious views of Lincoln, because of the clear and com- 
plete manner in which Mr. Remsburg gives the evidence of both sides. 

James H. Matheny, one of Lincoln's earliest and closest friends, in 
a letter to William H. Herndon, says : 

"I knew Mr. Lincoln as early as 1834-7; know he was an infidel. 
He used to talk infidelity in the clerk's office in this city (Ne\^ Salem, Illi- 
nois), about the years 1837-40. Lincoln attacked the Bible on two 
grounds : first, from the inherent or apparent contradictions under its 
lids ; second, from the grounds of reason. * * * Lincoln would come 
into the clerk's office, where I and some young men were writing and 
staying, and would bring the Bible with him, read a chapter, and argue 
against it." 

Hon John T. Stuart, law partner of Lincoln's in 1837 : 

"I knew Mr. Lincoln when he first came here, and for years after- 
Vy-ards. He was an avowed and open infidel, sometimes bordering on athe- 
ism. Lincoln always denied that Jesus was the Son of God as understood 
and maintained by the Christian church. The Rev. Dr. Smith, who wrote 
a letter, tried to convert Lincoln from infidelity so late as 1858, and 
couldn't do it." 

Hon David Davis, Justice of the United States Supreme Court 1862- 
yj, and United States Senator 1877-83 : "He (Lincoln) had no faith, in the 
Christian sense of the term — had faith in laws, principles, causes, and ef- 
fects — philosophically." 

William H. Herndon, law partner of Lincoln from 1843 "P to the 
time of Lincoln's death, says: "As to Mr. Lincoln's religious views, he 
was, in short, an infidel — a theist. He did not believe that Jesus was 
God, nor the Son of God — was a fatalist, denied the freedom of the will. 
Mr. Lincoln told me a thousand times that he did not believe the Bible 
was the revelation of God, as the Christian world contends." 

John B. Alley, member of Congress from 1858 to 1864: "In his re- 
ligious views Mr. Lincoln was very nearly what we would call a Free- 
thinker. While he reflected a great deal upon religious subjects, he com- 
municated his thoughts to a very few. He had little faith in the popular 
religion of the times. While Mr. Lincoln was perfectly honest and up- 
right, and led a blameless life, he was in no sense what might be con- 
sidered a rehgious man." 

Jesse W. Fell, one of Lincoln's most intimate friends, and for whom 



8 

Lincoln in 1859 wrote out a short autobiography, says: "On the innate 
depravity of man, the character and office of the great Head of the 
church, the atonement, the infalHbiHty of the written revelation, the per- 
formance of miracles, the nature and design of present and future re- 
wards and punishments, and many other subjects, he held opinions utterly 
at variance with what are usually taught in the church. I should say 
that his expressed views on these and kindred topics were such as, in the 
estimation of most believers, would place him entirely outside the Chris- 
tian pale." 

Mrs. Lincoln, wife of the President, and herself a Christian, once 
said: 

"Mr. Lincoln had no faith and no hope in the usual acceptation of 
these words. He never joined a church ; but still, as I believe, he was a 
religious man by nature. He first seemed to think about the subject when 
our boy Willie died, and then more than ever about the time he went to 
Gettysburg; but it w^as a kind of poetry in his nature, and he was never 
a technical Christian." 

The statement made by Christians that Lincoln's views on Chris- 
tianity underwent a complete change while he was President is contra- 
dicted by the evidence of Colonel John G. Nicolay, Lincoln's private sec- 
retary at the White House. In a signed statement given out to the 
newspapers a few days after Lincoln's assassination, Colonel Nicolay 
said : "Mr. Lincoln did not, to my knowledge, in any way change his re- 
ligious views, opinions, or beliefs, from the time he left Springfield to the 
day of his death. I do not know just what they were, never having 
heard him explain them in detail ; but I am very sure he gave no outward 
indication of his mind having undergone any change in that regard 
while here." 

In the face of such evidence it is absurd for people to say that 
Abraham Lincoln was a Christian. Those who make such a claim prove 
only one thing — that they are densely ignorant of the real life of Lincoln, 
a life which should be familiar to every American, rich or poor, infidel or 
Christian. Had Lincoln never become a great lawyer ; had he never be- 
come a great statesman ; had he lived an obscure lawyer or politician in 
a country town, and died by the dagger or pistol of an assassin, no 
Christian would have stepped forth to claim him, but he would have been 
denounced instead as an infidel whose assassination was the reward of 
his unbelief. Lincoln was not a Christian. His was a religion of hu- 
manity, a religion of sympathy. His was the religion of Voltaire, of 
Paine, of Ingersoll. Lincoln's whole religion is summed up in a remark 
he once made to a friend: "When I do good," said Lincoln, "I feel good; 
when I do bad, I feel bad, and that's my religion." 



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